Server computer and a method for accessing resources from virtual machines of a server computer via a fibre channel

Abstract

The invention relates to a server computer comprising an adapter component ( 6 ) for receiving of a request from an operating system and having an access rights administration module ( 8 ) for assigning of access rights to the operating system and for granting of the request in case of compliance with the corresponding access rights, and a fibre channel module ( 14 ) for sending the request to the resource via a fibre channel.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A server computer having an operating system and a resource comprising: 
 an adapter component for receiving a request from the operating system and having an access rights administration module for assigning of access rights to the operating system and for granting of the request in case of compliance with the corresponding access rights, and    a fibre channel module for sending the request to the resource via a fibre channel.    
     
     
         2 . The server computer of  claim 1  wherein the operating system is realized by means of a virtual machine component for providing a number of virtual (VMi), the virtual machines have the same or different operating systems such as VM/ESA or OS/390.  
     
     
         3 . The server computer of  claim 1  wherein the adapter component further comprises a transformation module for transforming an identifier of a request of one of the virtual machines for access to a resource to an unequivocal identifier of the request, the fibre channel module being adapted to send the request with the unequivocal identifier to the resource via a fibre channel.  
     
     
         4 . The server computer of claims  1  further comprising a control interface module for entering of access rights into the access rights administration module, the control interface module being adapted to be coupled to a dedicated administrator virtual machine via a dedicated channel or an separate administrator computer system.  
     
     
         5 . The server computer of  claim 1  comprising the transformation module being adapted to receive an unequivocal identifier of a response of the resource and to identify the corresponding request of one of the virtual machines in order to forward the response to that virtual machine.  
     
     
         6 . A computer system having an operating system and a resource comprising: 
 a server computer including an adapter component for receiving of a request from the operating system and having an access rights administration module for assigning of access rights to the operating system and for granting of the request in case of compliance with the corresponding access rights, and a fibre channel module for sending the request to the resource via a fibre;    a fibre channel switchcoupled to the server computer;    a Storage Area Network coupled to the fibre channel switch; and    a fibre channel resource controller coupled to the resource and to the Storage Area Network.    
     
     
         7 . A method for accessing a resource from a virtual machine of a plurality of virtual machines being provided by a server computer, the method comprising the steps of: 
 sending a request from the virtual machine together with a request identifier to an adapter component of the server computer;    transforming the identifier into an unequivocal identifier of the request;    transmitting the request with the unequivocal identifier over a fibre channel to the resource;    receiving a response from the resource with an unequivocal identifier of the response; and    forwarding the response to the corresponding virtual machine.    
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7  further comprising identifying the virtual machine and the request by means of the unequivocal identifier of the response.  
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8  wherein the unequivocal identifier of the response is the same as the unequivocal identifier of the request.  
     
     
         10 . A computer program product for accessing a resource from a virtual machine of a plurality of virtual machines being provided by a server computer, said program product comprising: 
 A computer readable medium having recorded thereon computer readable program code for performing the method comprising: 
 sending a request from the virtual machine together with a request identifier to an adapter component of the server computer;  
 transforming the identifier into an unequivocal identifier of the request;  
 transmitting the request with the unequivocal identifier over a fibre channel to the resource;  
 receiving a response from the resource with an unequivocal identifier of the response; and  
 forwarding the response to the corresponding virtual machine.  
   
     
     
         11 . The program product of  claim 10  wherein the method further comprises identifying the virtual machine and the request by means of the unequivocal identifier of the response.  
     
     
         12 . The program product of  claim 11  wherein the unequivocal identifier of the response is the same as the unequivocal identifier of the request.